Saturday, May 23, 2009

Three Colorful Balloons

It was a Disney day, the pale blue sky was dotted with perfectly shaped clouds and birds were tweeting. Somehow because it was a Disney day and I was basking in the early morning sunshine on the train platform the wait for the metro-north during rush hour wasn’t so bad. Maybe it was something about the contented look on my face that had attracted his attention. Of course I was content! I’d had a great weekend and the absolute final paper of my life as an undergrad was secured in my book bag and the end of the school semester was a day away. Life was good!

I felt it before I saw it. I looked up. If it’s at all possible for a stare to have some weight on it then his stare was obese. From several feet away he stared. I looked to either side of me and then behind me. He was staring at me and I wasn’t ready for it, honestly I wasn’t. I was being stared down at by a man in a clown suit and clown makeup as he held onto three brightly colored balloons. It was a Coulrophobic’s worse nightmare come true. My beloved Jackie with her fear of clowns would’ve pissed on herself. The commuters did their best not to stare at him; instead they stole sideway glances at him. I cursed the fact that I’d left my camera at home. I studied him from the top of his red curly wig to the shiny tip of his red leather clown shoes. I had to smile. He didn’t smile back he just continued to stare. He was giving me the creeps. I text messaged my supervisor at Legal Aid just in case …

Me: If I don’t come in to work today a man in a clown suit and make up kidnapped me while I was waiting for the metro north.

Me: He has a red 'fro with make-up like Ronald Mc Donald. God, this is like Stephen King's "It".

She: What does he want?

Me: I don’t know. He keeps staring at me and he’s holding 3 balloons.

She: Maybe he’s trying to figure out if you’re a kid or an adult so he can give one of them.

Me: Screw you.

My train pulled into the station and I lost him in the surge of commuters. Several minutes later I felt it again. The stare. I looked up and he was sitting across the aisle from me. He was still staring at me, still holding the balloons and he was still creeping me out. He stared at me during the entire 15 minute train ride. Finally my stop came up and I got off the train. As it pulled away I watched as he ducked his around the three colorful balloons and watched me walk down the platform.